The thoughts and musings of a man at the precipice of middle age, starting from his 50th birthday.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Shut Up and Let The Dog Drive

I like to think I treat my pets extremely well because I see them as companions and a valued part of my life. MacBeth is an extraordinary dog. He's very smart and a very dedicated and loyal companion. I often joke that there is no mammal on Earth who's ever been more interested in me than MacBeth -- that is not necessarily a bad thing. One thing I have never done with any of my animals is to humanize them. I know that a dog is a dog and even though he may be the best dog in the world at the end of the day you still just a dog.

My son and his friends have a great time giving MacBeth an internal dialogue. Because they all have a great sense of humor a lot of what MacBeth is saying and thinking is funny. They also spend time balancing toast on his head from time to time; which he puts up with.

When I am alone with MacBeth I have a tendency to talk to him and imagine what he might be saying back to me. Of course, I would probably fall out of my chair if he ever did actually answer me.

I do try to figure out what he is thinking when he does things that seem to be human. Sometimes he will just mimic my behavior and hope to get the same results. He may have seen me open a cabinet and take out food so he tries to do the same thing figuring he will also get food from the cabinet.

One thing he is always done since he was a small puppy is to climb into the driver seat whenever I leave him in the car. Before anybody sends me e-mail about not leaving a dog in a hot car, I am well aware. I never leave him in the car when it is overly warm or cold. I don't leave him in the car over five or 10 minutes total at any given time. I just don't take them with me if I'm going to be in place longer than a few minutes, if I am then he has to stay home.

When he was a little puppy he would stand on his hind legs and put his front paws on the steering wheel so we could see through the windshield. It was always kind of funny to come back out and see him in that position because it look like he was pretending to drive. As he got bigger, he stopped doing that and would just sit behind the steering wheel. It still looked like he was ready to take off driving because he was tall enough to see over the dashboard. I've always just kinda wondered why he would do it in the first place.

At first I figured he was sitting in the driver's seat just because he knew that was where I sat and that made the car move. But he never tried to move the steering wheel, other than using it to see over the dashboard, or do anything else that emulated driving. So, that wasn't it.

My next theory was that he was trying to hurry and get out of the door before I closed it. But MacBeth knows which door is his to enter and exit the vehicle and usually won't go out any other door other than his own. So that wasn't it either.

My best guess is that he knows if he is sitting in that chair to let everyone know he is in charge until I get back. He has always done a great job as the car has always been there when I get back.

Also, as soon as I hit the remote to unlock the car doors, he jumps back into the back seat so he is ready to go as soon as I get in the car.

So basically, e handles things when I am gone and is ready to go when I get back. Gotta love a dog like that – and I do.